pa_sink_input

volume is the volume that is visible to the user. In classic volume mode this is relative to the current sink volume. In flat volume mode it is absolute, i.e. in the same units/range as the sink's volume.

volume_factor is an internal volume factor that can be used by effect modules to apply additional software volume adjustments to a stream. Primary user for now is module-position-event-sounds.

reference_ratio is the ratio of the sink input's volume to the sink's reference volume.

real_ratio is the ratio of the sink input's volume to sink's real volume.

soft_volume is an internal volume calculated as the multiplication of real_ratio by volume_factor. It is as such the actual factor applied on the PCM data of this stream.

pa_sink

reference_volume is the volume that is visible to the user. Saved/restored stream volumes are relative to this.

real_volume is the volume the hardware is actually configured to. This is always lower or equal than the reference volume. In flat volume mode this equals the highest volume of all streams. In non-flat volume mode this equals the reference volume.

base_volume is an informational value that stores where a 'good' virtual volume level is for the device. Depending on the backend drivers this might be set to something < 0dB but most often is 0dB. This value stays constant and may not be modified.

soft_volume is an internal volume that is applied to the PCM data before it is handed out to the device. For devices lacking hw volume control this is used to apply volumes. Also, on devices that do dB based volumes this is used to extend the volume range.